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Thursday, December 30, 2010

Cranberry Trifle

From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite...I want to classify this as a leftover dessert because it is just that in our house. It's made from bits and bobs of other Christmas desserts and the trifle is a last minute effort to see that nothing goes to waste. It is delicious and quite simple to do if you have all the elements at hand. It is, unfortunately, quite involved if you have to start from scratch. Not hard, mind you, just time consuming. To make ours, I used the remains of our orange-flavored Christmas pound cake, homemade cranberry conserve and a Crème Anglaise that had been made for other purposes. I additionally used frozen, thawed mixed berries and real whipped cream to complete the layering of the trifle. I have included recipes for the various elements of this dessert and instructions for its assembly below, but if you would prefer to make a semi-homemade version of the dessert, frozen pound cake, commercial cranberry preserves, a pudding mix and whipped topping can be used. If at all possible, I recommend making your own pudding or Crème Anglaise and using real whipped cream. There is a point at which time saving ingredients become counter productive and produce a dessert that might look gorgeous but have a synthetic flavor. This is one of those desserts. I rarely serve trifle following a meal. I prefer to serve it as a stand alone dessert with coffee later in the evening. I also like to serve this in individual portions, but you can, if you wish, make one large trifle. Here's are the recipes you need to make the trifle from scratch.

Directions:1) To assemble, begin with a layer of cake. Add a layer of mixed berries. Place cranberry preserves directly on top of berries, followed by a layer of Crème Anglaise. Top with whipped cream and garnish with toasted almonds and sugared cranberries. Yield: 6 to 8 individual trifles or one large trifle.

Combine egg yolks and sugar in a large mixing bowl. Mix until thickened. Heat cream in a medium sauce pan until it begins to bubble slightly. Whisk cream into egg mixture 1/4 cup at a time. Return mixture to sauce pan. Continue to cook over medium-low heat for 15-20 minutes or until thickened. Take care to not allow mixture to boil. When thickened, move Crème Anglaise to mixing bowl to cool. Stir, occasionally, as it cools to prevent skin forming on top. Chill. Add vanilla and serve.

In a small mixing bowl, stir flour with whisk to break it up. In a large mixing bowl, beat egg yolks, half of sugar, and vanilla until thickened. Add flour to top of egg mixture, but do not stir in. In another bowl, beat egg whites and cream of tartar until peaks form. Gently add remaining sugar to egg white mixture. Continue to whip egg whites until stiff peaks form. Fold egg white mixture into egg yolk mixture. Transfer batter into a buttered 9” by 12” pan. Bake for 28-30 minutes or until knife can be inserted and removed clean. When cool, cut cake into 1” wide by 6” long strips.

All I can say is this looks deadly! I love creamy fruity and tart desserts! But, I cannot believe I have the capacity to find this lush as I have definitely overeaten my quota of sweets for the next few months!:)Happy Happy New Year!Valerie

I'm starting to panic as my freezer stash of cranberries is dwindling! Bringing these components together makes for a spectacular dessert. As for the whipped cream, etc., we use little in the way of what science has given us as food--no margarine or whipped topping in our refrigerator!

We almost had a trifle for Christmas -- but not a leftover one -- a made from scratch one but then decided on creme brulee (there were only 4 of us) -- your trifle looks delicious and I love the cranberry element -- I'll have to try that next year.

I never really thought of doing something with leftover dessert but the concept is genius! We always have so much of it and my mother bemoans the fact that it just sits there, often going bad. This looks wonderful!

That is a pretty gorgeous "leftover dessert" and a fantastic finish to any celebration! I used to be quite the trifle guy, but haven't done it in a long time. My favorite was a cherry triffle with macaroons from one of the Williamsburg cookbooks.

My husband LOVES trifle. All those many years that we took students to Europe, we always spent two weeks living in and working with small churches in Scotland. The darling little older ladies would surprise Dave often with a huge bowl of homemade trifle. Even the Safeway premade version, was incredible. Sweet memories.

What a lovely end to the holiday season. I still have some cranberries that need to be used...this looks like a wonderful way to get rid of that last bag. Thank you for sharing this recipe with me. I wish you and yours a blessed weekend and new year!

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